In his book, Management Challenges for the 21st Century, management guru Peter Drucker writes that the knowledge worker will be the most valuable asset for any 21st-century organization.
Now, who is a knowledge worker? I’m glad you asked.
Anyone who uses information and technology to solve problems or create products is a knowledge worker—developers, architects, artists, writers, marketers, etc.
As a writer, my biggest strength is my skill in capturing, documenting, and using the ‘knowledge’ I have access to. This could be discussions in meetings, key points from a research paper, names of important people, etc.
Simply put, my knowledge work is only as good as the notes I can take. I’ve tried Notion as my primary note-taking app, but over time, I realized that I needed more.
So, I tried dozens of desktop and mobile note-taking apps and shortlisted the 15 best ones for you. Let’s explore them all.
15 Best Notion Alternatives & Competitors in 2024
- Notion Limitations
- Notion Alternatives & Competitors at Glance
- 15 Best Notion Alternatives & Competitors in 2024
- 1. ClickUp: Best for managing documents
- 2. Nuclino: Best for simple wikis and knowledge bases
- 3. Obsidian: Best for documenting connected ideas/concepts
- 4. Microsoft OneNote: Best for audio and video notes
- 5. Evernote: Best for personal productivity and note-taking
- 6. Slite: Best for organizational knowledge bases
- 7. Confluence: Best for software teams using Jira
- 8. Coda: Best for consolidating workflows and wikis
- 9. Slab: Best for beautiful-looking documents
- 10. Google Keep: Best for personal note-taking
- 11. Anytype: Best for teams focused on trust and security
- 12. Microsoft Loop: Best if you love CoPilot
- 13. Upbase: Best for personal note-taking and productivity
- 14. Mem: Best for those who like AI to do the ‘organizing’
- 15. Zoho WorkDrive: Best to keep files and folders organized
Summarize this article for me pleaseNotion Limitations
Notion will likely be one of your first options if you’ve ever thought about digital note-taking. It’s popular, flexible, simple, and powerful. But it’s not perfect—at least not for me so much so that we wrote a primer on how to use Notion AI.
In my experience using Notion, I found that it had several limitations, such as:
🚫 Complex setup: Notion is a highly flexible blank slate. This also means you must invest time and energy into setting up the structure for your Notion Space. You have to decide the hierarchy, integrations, connections, and document formats, which can be daunting for some users.
🚫 Lack of advanced features: Notion is an app designed to be your company wiki, i.e., a collection of documents. Most features are designed from that perspective, making it sub-optimal in other areas.
- While it does offer project management features, they are limited and unsuitable for big assignments
- It doesn’t have a native form builder or a workflow builder
- Developer integrations to Git and other code repositories are lacking
- Notion integrations with enterprise tools like M365, AWS, etc. are patchy at best
Therefore, I found myself using another app for task management, adding to costs and efforts.
🚫 Difficulty in creating templates: I needed an outliner app with templates for discovery calls, meetings, etc., which were difficult to create in Notion. I ended up redoing the structure for each type of document every time I needed it.
🚫 Interface clutter: After using it for a couple of years, I realized that the document hierarchy I had set up was beginning to break. I saw too many items on each view, making it cluttered and disorganized.
Several apps today overcome these challenges and offer much more. Let’s look at all the Notion AI alternatives at a glance.
Summarize this article for me pleaseNotion Alternatives & Competitors at Glance
| Note-taking tool | Best for | Best feature | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClickUp | Managing documents | Ability to convert ideas/notes into tasks for teams to take action | As ClickUp offers a lot more than just note-taking, it can be overwhelming for someone who just wants to jot down a few ideas |
| Nuclino | Simple wikis and knowledge bases | Collaborative with documents where you can make notes, tag people, create tasks, embed files, etc | Lack of custom branding, themes, and styles |
| Obsidian | Documenting connected ideas/concepts | Bi-directional linking between notes, ideas, concepts, etc | Can have a steep learning curve |
| Microsoft OneNote | Audio and video notes | Similar to a physical notebook with pages—easy to use | Very few integrations |
| Evernote | Personal productivity and note-taking | Integrations with Google Calendar, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc. to streamline workflows | Project management features are limited to creating tasks and to-do’s |
| Slite | Organizational knowledge bases | Automation to create recurring docs and reminders | Lacks advanced project management features |
| Confluence | Software teams using Jira | Live collaborative editing with in-line comments, likes, GIFs, and emojis | Designed for techies, it can have a steep learning curve for the rest of us |
| Coda | Consolidating workflows and wikis | Combining documentation, tracking, and automation to be multiple tools in one | User interface can be unintuitive for non-tech-savvy users |
| Slab | Beautiful-looking documents | Simple and easy-to-use interface for anyone to get started quickly | Limited template library |
| Google Keep | Personal note-taking | Easy to use, can add notes as text, images, and audio | Eats into the storage of your GSuite account |
| Anytype | Teams focused on trust and security | Templates for communities, families, teams, and personal users | Complicated for non-technical users |
| Microsoft Loop | CoPilot users | Real-time sync across apps and devices | Limited features compared to other popular note taking apps |
| Upbase | Personal note-taking and productivity | Simple and easy to use by design | Might be too simple for enterprise needs |
| Mem | Those who like AI to do the ‘organizing’ | Custom AI to create notes/responses in your tone and style | Only note-taking, little to no task management features |
| Zoho WorkDrive | Keeping files and folders organized | Stronger admin to view and manage all files and folders | Limited personalization capabilities |
Summarize this article for me please15 Best Notion Alternatives & Competitors in 2024
1. ClickUp: Best for managing documents
ClickUp is an all-in-one workspace with powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use note-taking features. It is a great Notion alternative. Here’s why:
- Need quick and easy note-taking? Spin up ClickUp Notepad
- Need something more detailed and structured? Try ClickUp Docs
- For more contextual notes, you can write in the description and comments section of each task
- Are you a visual note-taker? Well, ClickUp Whiteboard is just for you
Now, what do you do with all these notes once you document them?
If you struggle with scattered documentation, ClickUp can help with that as well. With ClickUp Chat, your documents can be easily linked to relevant conversations, ensuring that you always have the context you need.
And just like that, your chats, notes, and tasks are connected in one place, enabling you to move fast and get more done!
ClickUp best features
ClickUp’s biggest strength is its dedicated project management tools. From complex resource allocation to creative brainstorming, ClickUp offers everything you need in a modern virtual workspace.
Some of its best note-taking features are:
- Structured notes on a hierarchy that suits you
- Rich formatting and editing options
- Document version history to track and revert changes as needed
- Live, collaborative editing features within ClickUp Docs
- Ability to convert ideas/notes into tasks for teams to take action
- Automation of standup/updates, text summary, quick replies, and spell checks with ClickUp Brain
- AI transcription tool for video/audio recordings
In addition to the in-built features, ClickUp also offers several pre-designed templates for various use cases.
Streamline your meetings and make them productive for everyone with ClickUp’s Meeting Notes Template, which includes agendas, notes, and action items.
ClickUp limitations
As ClickUp offers much more than note-taking, it can be overwhelming for someone who just wants to jot down a few ideas.
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Add to any paid plan for $7 per member per month
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (9,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about ClickUp?
2. Nuclino: Best for simple wikis and knowledge bases
Nuclino is a relatively new all-purpose productivity suite with features to create documents, brainstorm ideas, and manage tasks. It is one of the many apps that work on the concept of building a digital brain/neural network.
In my experience, Nuclino is too focused on being a knowledge base or a repository of information. It aims to simplify complex processes instead of making space for them. This can be restrictive, especially when you have sprawling ideas/projects.
Nuclino best features
- Collaborative with documents where you can make notes, tag people, create tasks, embed files, etc.
- Simple features and minimal UI ensure speed
- Suitable for developers who are used to keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys
- Includes SSO, controls, audit logs, access rights, and other security features
Nuclino limitations
- Optimized for simplicity, which can be unsuitable for big databases and complex use cases
- Lack of custom branding, themes, and styles
- For fast-growing startups, it can be difficult to scale Nuclino as the organization grows
Nuclino pricing
- Free Forever
- Standard: $5/month per user
- Premium: $10/month per user
Nuclino ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (20+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (80+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Nuclino?
Check out these Nuclino alternatives!
3. Obsidian: Best for documenting connected ideas/concepts
Obsidian is a personal knowledge base that can be expanded to organizational needs. It induces a number of features for writing, note-taking, and documenting.
It is a powerful alternative to Notion because of the way it visualizes the relationships between notes, creating an engaging and interactive graph. From information about product development to George Washington, identify patterns and record them, just like your brain would.
I used Obsidian to record my general learning and write for ideas. Add journaling to it, and it makes for a good personal wiki. However, multi-device sync with Obsidian is complex, which was a big deterrent for me.
Obsidian best features
- Markdown for simple and portable formatting
- Bi-directional linking between notes, ideas, concepts, etc.
- Numerous plugins and themes for customizability
- No lock-in due to open and non-proprietary files
Obsidian limitations
- Can have a steep learning curve with several decisions on structuring your information
- Markdown style might not have unlimited flexibility that some brand teams might need
- Not the most aesthetically simple or pleasing
Obsidian pricing
- Free forever (personal use)
- Commercial use: $50/year per user
Add-ons
- Sync feature: $4/month per user
- Publish feature: $8/month per user
Obsidian ratings and reviews
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (20+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Obsidian?
Check out these Obsidian alternatives!
4. Microsoft OneNote: Best for audio and video notes
Microsoft OneNote is among the most famous digital note-taking apps available today. It comes bundled with the M365 suite, making it a part of the Microsoft productivity stack.
The great thing about OneNote is that you can type text, add images, clip and insert webpages, handwrite, or draw on each page on the app—it’s just like a notebook. As someone using various products in the Apple ecosystem, I found Microsoft contrasting in aesthetics.
Microsoft OneNote best features
- Similar to a physical notebook with pages—easy to use
- Ability to access revisions and track changes for long-term writing
- Touch capability on devices to draw or handwrite characters
- Recording audio and video notes too
Microsoft OneNote limitations
- Might get unwieldy if there are too many notes/pages
- Single-user tools with limited collaboration features
- Very few integrations
Microsoft OneNote pricing
- For home:
- Family: $9.99/month upto 6 users
- Personal: $6.99/month for single user
- For business:
- MS365 Business Basic: $6/month per user
- MS365 Business Standard: $12.5/month per user
- MS365 Business Premium: $22/month per user
- MS365 Apps for Business: $8.25/month per user
Microsoft OneNote ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5 (1800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1500+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Microsoft OneNote?
Check out these OneNote alternatives!
5. Evernote: Best for personal productivity and note-taking
Evernote is one of the earliest independent note-taking apps. Before using Notion or looking for alternatives, Evernote was right on top of my list. It is a simple, clean productivity tool that allows you to add notes in the form of text, images, web pages, PDFs, and audio.
Evernote best features
- Easy to use with just the right kind of formatting features
- Ability to capture notes in a number of formats
- Integrations with Google Calendar, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc. to streamline workflows
- Secure storage for important documents like ID cards, invoices, insurance files, etc.
- AI-powered search to find what you need instantly!
Evernote limitations
- Project management features are limited to creating tasks and to-do’s
- Limited live collaboration features
Evernote pricing
- Free
- Personal: $10.83/month
- Professional: $14.17/month
- Teams: $20.83/month per user
Evernote ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (2000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (8000+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Evernote?
Check out these Evernote alternatives!
6. Slite: Best for organizational knowledge bases
Slite is a new AI-powered collaborative knowledge base platform that enables organizations to create a single source of truth for all their information. Just as I was trying various tools, I especially took to Slite because of its collections feature, which keeps related documents organized to be filtered and sorted as needed.
With pre-existing note-taking templates for various use cases and the ability to create your own, Slite is great for streamlining knowledge management. However, Slite is a knowledge base, and that’s that. To go from information to action, you need a different tool.
Slite best features
- Designed to adapt to all note-taking, including company wiki, meeting notes, process documentation, etc.
- Each note can include text, images, tables, and embeds of files like Google Docs or Miro boards
- Automation to create recurring docs and reminders
- AI features for spell checks, summarizing, simplifying language, change of tone, and more
Slite limitations
- Lacks advanced project management features
- No in-built visual collaboration features, such as Whiteboard or Mind Maps
Slite pricing
- Free
- Standard: $8/month per user
- Premium: $12.5/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
Slite ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (40+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Slite?
7. Confluence: Best for software teams using Jira
Atlassian’s Confluence is documentation and collaboration software designed for development teams. It allows users to take notes, organize them, add keyword labels, and archive them for organizational use.
Like many of Atlassian’s products, Confluence is designed for large enterprise teams that create comprehensive knowledge bases. While you can certainly take meeting notes on Confluence, that is not the best use of the app.
Confluence best features
- Page tree organization to quickly find documents
- Live collaborative editing with in-line comments, likes, GIFs, and emojis
- Features to tag people, comment, and assign to tasks
- Great for company-wide announcements
- Thorough permission settings for secure sharing
Confluence limitations
- Designed for techies, it can have a steep learning curve for the rest of us
- Complex access control dashboards
- Limited compatibility with other apps
- Import from Microsoft Word or Google Docs and export to PDF are sub-optimal
Confluence pricing
- Free forever
- Standard: $600/year
- Premium: $1,150/year
- Enterprise: Contact sales
Confluence ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.1/5 (3700+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (3300+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Confluence?
8. Coda: Best for consolidating workflows and wikis
Coda offers an interesting pitch—it promises to declutter the workspace. That is what attracted me to try the app. It lends itself as a note-taking app with the ability to organize as rows and columns, automate/embed external tools, and get more done with AI.
When using the app to set up the team wiki, I found the tool complex to use. It was perhaps too powerful for simple documentation needs.
Coda best features
- Combining documentation, tracking, and automation to be multiple tools in one
- Deft handling of formulas and databases
- Bi-directional integrations with Google Calendar, Slack, Jira, etc. for updates
- Comprehensive gallery of predesigned templates for even niche use cases, such as a $100 voting exercise
- AI assistant for answers, summarizing, generating tables, etc.
Coda limitations
- Steep learning curve until one gets familiar with the features of Coda
- User interface can be unintuitive for non-tech-savvy users
- Performance and scalability with heavy workloads has been low
Coda pricing
- Free
- Pro: $10/month per Doc Maker
- Team: $30/month per Doc Maker
- Enterprise: Contact sales
Coda ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (400+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (50+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Coda?
9. Slab: Best for beautiful-looking documents
In the modern Internet, content should look as good as it reads. Slab promises to help users “create content that looks good by default.” Focused on experience, Slab includes advanced editing features.
Slab best features
- Unified search tool for easy access
- Simple and easy-to-use interface for anyone to get started quickly
- Comprehensive integration with Google Drive, including search
- Auto-generated table of contents
Slab limitations
- As a new app, it is still under development. So, limited in advanced features like API integrations, embedding various file types, etc.
- Limited template library
Slab pricing
- Free
- Startup: $6.67/month per user
- Business: $12.50/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact sales
Slab ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (250+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.9/5 (40+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Slab?
10. Google Keep: Best for personal note-taking
Google Keep is an integrated note-taking app within the Google productivity suite. It is simple and easy to use and is bundled into the stack if you use GMail or the GSuite. Google Keep’s biggest advantage is its simplicity, but that is also its biggest limitation.
As my work expanded and I took more notes, I found that documenting and organizing them took more effort with Google Keep. Key features for notifications and collaboration, which are par for the course in any other tool, are still lacking in Google Keep.
Google Keep best features
- Easy to use, can add notes as text, images, and audio
- Syncs across devices using the same Google account
- Labeling and color-coding various kinds of documents
- Includes checkboxes, cards, lists, etc., within each note
Google Keep limitations
- Highly focused on simplicity, so limited features for large enterprise teams
- Organized as labels rather than folders
- Eats into the storage of your GSuite account
Google Keep pricing
- Free forever
Google Keep ratings and reviews
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (150+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Google Keep?
11. Anytype: Best for teams focused on trust and security
Anytype is positioned as a collaborative workspace for creating products together. Its biggest advantage is that it allows you to create documents locally and execute decentralized sync across devices. It also enables local, on-device encryption.
It also means that you need some level of technical expertise to make Anytype work.
Anytype best features
- Block-based editor with the ability to create databases
- Table, Kanban, and gallery views
- Offline-first with peer-to-peer sync
- Templates for communities, families, teams, and personal users
Anytype limitations
- Complicated for non-technical users
- Still in early stages, so little evidence of its ability to handle complex needs or scale
Anytype pricing
- Explorer: Free
- Builder: $99 per year
- Co Creator: $299 for 3 years
Anytype ratings and reviews
- Product Hunt: 4.8/5 (200+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Anytype?
12. Microsoft Loop: Best if you love CoPilot
Microsoft Loop is a co-creation platform, essentially an app for teams, families, or communities to come together and write. Its primary boost comes from Co-pilot integration, which brings AI to your note-taking.
I found that unless you are on the Microsoft stack, Loop as a standalone tool is barely competitive against other similar tools like Notion or ClickUp.
Microsoft Loop best features
- Co-pilot integration for ideation and automation
- Real-time sync across apps and devices
- Page templates for various use cases
- Potential replacement for OneNote with its more modern UI
Microsoft Loop limitations
- Limited features compared to frontrunners in note-taking apps
- Bundled into the M365 suite, with no option to buy as a standalone product
Microsoft Loop pricing
- Free
- MS365 Business Standard: $12.5/month per user
- MS365 Business Premium: $22/month per user
Microsoft Loop ratings and reviews
As a relatively new and lackluster app, there are few ratings and reviews on third-party platforms like G2 or Capterra.
What are real-life users saying about Microsoft Loop?
13. Upbase: Best for personal note-taking and productivity
At its core, Upbase is a project management tool with note-taking capabilities. It includes planners, time-blocking, pomodoro, and other productivity features to keep you focused. However, it is highly focused on individual productivity rather than team collaboration.
Upbase best features
- Personal productivity tools included in the app
- Simple and easy to use by design
- List and board views for project tracking
- Collaborative features on documents, like comments, @mentions, custom meeting notes templates, and sharing
Upbase limitations
- Limited integrations with popular productivity tools
- No offline mode available
- Might be too simple for enterprise needs
Upbase pricing
- Free forever
- Premium: $5/month per user
Upbase ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.9/5 (4 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (6 reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Upbase?
14. Mem: Best for those who like AI to do the ‘organizing’
Mem is positioned as an AI-organized note-taking app. While you need to take your notes, Mem’s AI helps make connections and build relevance automatically, without you having to organize notes into folders or add tags.
I loved Mem for the fact that the AI gets trained on my own notes, understanding my tags and nomenclature. This means I can ask it questions like, “who proposed this idea?” and get answers instantly.
Mem best features
- AI-based organization, building a network of notes to be recalled easily later
- Custom AI to create to do lists, notes, and responses in your tone and style
- Intelligent summary
- Contextual suggestions and recommendations while taking notes
Mem limitations
- AI features work best when there is enough information, so a commitment to use the app extensively is necessary
- Only note-taking, little to no task management features
Mem pricing
- Mem: $8.33/month
- Mem Teams: Contact sales
Mem ratings and reviews
- G2: 1.5/5 (1 review)
What are real-life users saying about Mem?
Check out these Mem AI alternatives!
15. Zoho WorkDrive: Best to keep files and folders organized
Zoho WorkDrive is a file management system for teams. It helps consolidate documents and knowledge, including those currently living in third-party apps like Google Docs or Microsoft Word.
The best part of Zoho WorkDrive is its multimedia note-taking capabilities—you can add screen recordings and video and audio files to your notes. Yet, it sorely lacks the simplicity and accessibility of many of the apps discussed above.
Zoho WorkDrive best features
- Audio, video, and screen recording with WorkDrive Snap
- External sharing and collaboration
- Stronger admin to view and manage all files and folders
- Tree-based view and navigation
Zoho Drive limitations
- Performance and speed can be sub-optimal with large files
- Limited personalization capabilities
- Collaboration features are sluggish when too many people join a file
Zoho WorkDrive pricing
- Starter: $2.5/month per user
- Team: $4.5/month per user
- Business: $9/month per user
Zoho WorkDrive ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (200+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Zoho WorkDrive?
Summarize this article for me pleaseManage Your Knowledge Work Better With ClickUp
When we speak of ‘knowledge’ work, we often think of tacit knowledge, i.e., the information we are conscious of knowing. This is what is recorded in the form of notes.
However, a big part of knowledge work is what we are not consciously aware of. For instance, developers might not know the entire product development or management workflow. This, too, is knowledge, though tacit.
To effectively manage both conscious and tacit knowledge and serve as the best Notion alternative, you need a tool purpose-designed for modern workplaces, like ClickUp.
ClickUp’s all-in-one project management platform enables you to record information through ClickUp Docs or Notepad actively. It is one of the most powerful AI tools for note-taking.
In addition, it also captures passive data like time estimates, time tracking, individual productivity, resource utilization, etc. This creates a wealth of knowledge for individual contributors, project managers, and team leaders.
See how ClickUp manages knowledge in your organization. Try ClickUp for free today.
Everything you need to stay organized and get work done.
